Federer suffers shock defeat in Stuttgart

Roger Federer suffered a surprise second round defeat to Tommy Haas on his return to action at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart

The Australian Open champion, who decided to skip the clay-court season to rest for the grass-court swing, was beaten in his first outing in two months by his 39-year-old opponent.

Federer showed no sign of rustiness in the opening set however as the match progressed his level of play dipped and his old friend and rival was able to score a rare win.

Haas, who saved a match-point in the second set tiebreak, secured a 2-6 7-6(8) 6-4 success to become the oldest quarter-finalist at an ATP event since Jimmy Connors in 1995.

“I thought it was a typical grass-court match today,” said Federer. “If you don’t take your chances like I didn’t, leading a set and a break, you really only have yourself to blame at the end.

“It wasn’t all bad, not at all. There were definitely some good moments, but I was definitely not as sharp as I was hoping to be in maybe the big moments, or the moment when I had the lead and where I feel I should have been cruising from that moment on. I definitely made some crucial mistakes and judgment errors.”

Federer’s 12-match winning run has come to an end, and he will now turn his attention to the grass-court event in Halle, a tournament he has won a record eight times.

Elsewhere in Stuttgart, Philipp Kohlschreiber edged a third set tiebreak with Steve Johnson and Mischa Zverev defeated his countryman, Yannick Hanfmann, 7-6(1) 6-2.

Posted by: tennishead magazine

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